


Her Scars, His Scars

by Redribbonhood



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Comfort, F/M, Kissing, Showers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-06
Updated: 2018-05-06
Packaged: 2019-05-02 21:58:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14554389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Redribbonhood/pseuds/Redribbonhood
Summary: Some scars run deeper than they appear. Shepard and Garrus know this better than most.





	Her Scars, His Scars

## 20\. A kiss “…on a scar”

"Hell Garrus, you were always ugly. Slap some face-paint on there and no one will even notice.”  

  Commander Shepard could always find a way to mask pain with jokes and diffuse serious situations with wit. It had worked for her in therapy after Mindoir, and again while continuing military service after Azuke- a good sense of humor to buffer the dark chapters of her life was part of who she was. Cerberus had somehow rebuilt that as well. Luckily, as expected, Vakarian takes it in stride. A laugh, a joke of his own, and then they were back to saving the galaxy one collector corpse at a time- one less to worry about.

 Garrus didn’t need to know how she had made Joker speed back to the Citadel immediately so she could spend prodigiously on medical supplies and extra doctors.  No one was allowed to tell him how she’d stayed up all night holding his scaly three-fingered hand, shakilly checking his pulse every few minutes. No, her best friend needed her impeccable aim and her unfailing cheekiness. So she delivered.

 Fast forward about one year. Add one interspecies liaison, one suicide mission through an omega-6 relay, subtract half of the galaxy’s military forces, and divide by a countless number of lives. Finally, multiply it all with the impending threat of the Reapers’ seemingly inevitable victory...suddenly a sense of humor doesn’t seem to cut it anymore. Jokes die on her lips before she can speak them; she will sooner find an excuse out of answering serious questions rather than deflecting them with snark, and her smile has become a rarity. The whole crew seems to notice but no one knows what to do or say about it. But that doesn't stop ex-vigilante Archangel, all around turian bad boy and dispenser of justice in an unjust galaxy, from trying.

“Shepard, look what I found,”

He enters her cabin carrying a bottle of the same wine he’d brought that first night. He is just about to turn on some of that same terrible music- even in jokes Garrus Vakarian is meticulous- when he notices Shepard is nowhere in sight. The tell-tale sounds of running water lead him to the shower where the love of his life sits, her knees tucked up to her chest. She is staring catatonically straight ahead, seemingly indifferent to the hot water raining down on her.

“Spirits, Shepard,” Garrus sighs and turns off the water. He then lowers himself beside her.

This isn’t the first time he’s found her like this. The shower is small and it’s a tight squeeze, but they’re used to the close proximity by now, and as he puts an arm around her bare shoulders she instinctively leans into him. They sit in the quiet for a few moments, letting the steam settle around them before Garrus takes one of her hands in his and gently kisses the inside of her wrist.

The fresh scar there was from just days ago when a rachni had spit acid at her on Utukku. She’d pushed one of Grunt’s Aralakh Company members out of the way and her gloves hadn’t been secured tight. Garrus moves his mouth plates up her arm to kiss her shoulder. The slightly more faded claw marks here are a souvenir from the planet Lessus a few weeks prior.

She’d pulled Liara out of an ardat-yakshi’s reach only to take the wicked scratch herself, the kinetic barriers doing little to guard against the elongated razor-like nails. There were few things more terrifying in the galaxy than facing an ardat-yakshi up close and Garrus knows these scars run even deeper than her skin. She makes a sound between a sigh and groan as he kisses her neck next. The scar there is one of the oldest she’s received since he’s known her. Courtesy of Saren Arterius grabbing her on Virmire.

“Let’s get dry,” Shepard says, her voice hoarse from lack of use. Or maybe it’s lack of sleep. Or, Garrus reasons painfully, a very likely combination of both.

He helps her stand, carefully, his arms under hers. The naked specter touches his face with a wet hand and traces the fading scar along his cheek. There isn’t room enough in her life for regrets; she would have lost her mind by now if she allowed herself to have them. But looking back, if there was a small thing she could change, Shepard decides it would have been her reaction to Garrus surviving a rocket to the face. That he is alive right now was a miracle and she is tired of taking those for granted. There’s still time to rectify it. She steps forward to kiss the fading scar...and loses her footing on the wet tile. He steadies her, never allowing her to fall, and her mouth lands on one of his mandibles instead.

“It's ok." Garrus jokes soothingly. "You always did have terrible aim,”

She laughs for the first time in weeks.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! :) Please let me know what you think! This was my favorite kiss request to write <3
> 
> Part of a "50 Kisses" Writing Prompt request from my writing [tumblr](https://grey-wardens-dont-have-dental.tumblr.com)


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